New Delhi: Axiom Space has announced that the SpaceX Dragon for the Axiom 4 mission will undock from the International Space Station (ISS) no sooner than 14 July. The brand new spaceship, named Grace is docked to the zenith or space-facing port of the Harmony module on the orbital complex. The Axiom 4 mission consists of Commander Peggy Whitson, the most experienced astronaut in America, ISRO Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla as the Pilot, as well as Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. The SpaceX Dragon lifted off from Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 on 25 June, and docked with the ISS a day later.
Shubhanshu Shukla and Tibor Kapu in the Cupola. (Image Credit: Axiom Space).
The planned mission duration was for 14 days, with a crew following a rigorous schedule that consisted of science experiments to benefit all humans on the planet and outreach activities aimed at inspiring the next generation of spacefarers. The Axiom 4 mission has set a new record for the amount of research conducted on a commercial mission to the ISS. The downtime was spent capturing images and videos of the Earth and interacting with family members back at home. The crew has completed over 230 orbits of the Earth, and will take a few more laps before returning with an ocean splashdown.
The Axiom 4 mission will benefit India’s Gaganyaan programme
ISRO Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla, along with the backup pilot for the mission, Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair have undergone the same training in the procedures for human spaceflight at Axiom Space, SpaceX and NASA facilities, in addition to training at Star City in Russia and ISRO’s own facilities in Bengaluru. Shukla is the first Indian to float into the ISS, and the first-hand experience will prove invaluable in filling any gaps and ironing out any kinks in India’s ambitious Gaganyaan programme to lift humans to Earth orbit using domestic hardware.